In the prior art, circular gang saws are typically mounted on a splined arbor. The saws in the gang saw are stabilized and positioned relative to each other on the splined arbor by sawguides. Each saw within the gang saw has a corresponding sawguide. Each sawguide has an opposed pair of rigid members spaced apart to allow the saw blade to pass between the opposed rigid members. The opposed rigid members support babbitt pads or the like which rub against the sides of the saw blade. The sawguides are sandwiched together in a laterally extending array across the laterally extending circular gang saw by means of a hydraulic press.
It is desirable to change the relative spacing between saws in the circular gang saw in order to cut different sized lumber from a cant being fed into the gang saw. In the prior art, changing the spacing between the saws in the gang saw meant stopping operation of the gang saw, releasing the hydraulic press, removing the sawguides and the corresponding saw blades and replacing the sawguides with sawguides of a different thickness and reassembling the gang saw with the saw blades set at the new spacing dictated by the new sawguides. This process typically caused considerable down time and lost productivity. It did not allow for the quick changing of the lumber target size for which the gang saw was preset.
Consequently, it is an object of the present invention to provide a circular gang saw having adjustable sawguides, adjustable by means of a remote control system and selectively actuable actuators so as to thereby to reduce the time required to change lumber target size, the device not requiring the breakdown and reassembly of the sawguides in order to change lumber target size.